


Understandings

by Harukami



Series: For The Birds [10]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 14:44:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2551376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harukami/pseuds/Harukami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beni finally decides to look to friends to help the situation; concurrently, Huracan starts to feel less important. They finally confront Koujaku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understandings

He doesn't tell Beni everything -- as he had promised, he had learned the details so he could filter them and keep the betrayal as small as possible. But he does tell Beni what he thinks was vital: Ryuuhou was the man who tattooed Koujaku and, on the day it was finished, Koujaku killed a lot of people. He doesn't tell him about Koujaku's ancestry, he doesn't tell him who he killed -- it doesn't matter, perhaps. This is enough to explain Koujaku's actions from here on, that he was forced to become a murderer, without telling Beni things that it would be Koujaku's right to tell him.

It's still enough to bowl Beni over -- more or less literally. Halfway through the brief summary, Beni sat down in their field; by the end, he had his face hidden in his hands. Huracan moves closer to comfort him, then stops himself; there's something solitary in the gesture, the small figure hunched smaller and closed in, and he's not reaching out to anyone. It might be a time that Beni doesn't want that kind of comfort.

It's a long few moments after Huracan has stopped talking before Beni opens up again, fingers spreading first and showing sharp red eyes through them, then falling away entirely as Beni hugs his knees. It's another few painful seconds of silence before Beni sighs, the sound ragged.

"I had no idea," he says, in his sharp tone.

"Of course you didn't," Huracan says. 

Beni shakes his head like he's flinging off the surety of that statement. "Hell no, man, you can't say that. There's no 'of course' about it! We're together all the time -- all the time, Huracan! And I had no idea he'd been carrying this since before I even knew him! What kind of Allmate doesn't know his partner better than he knows himself, huh? I'm worse than garbage!"

For some reason, an irritation spreads through Huracan that can't be explained away by the situation. It's not aimed at anything in particular -- not Koujaku, not Beni. Fighting not to let it show and trigger another altercation between them, Huracan digs his nails into his palms once to let the bite of unusual pain center him, then relaxes his hand.

"It's unreasonable to expect yourself to realize the things that are deliberately hidden from you," he says.

Beni sighs, and rubs the back of his fist across his nose. "Guess so," he mutters. 

"That aside," Huracan says -- he wants to force Beni out of this self-recrimination, though he's not sure this is the best way to do it -- "what do you feel we should do with this information? It's yours to do with as you see fit."

Beni almost trembles, biting his thumb and chewing at the nail there, brows drawn down. Huracan doesn't interrupt, but he does move closer this time, sits with him without touching, watching him with a forcibly calm, even stare. "I don't see any out," Beni says, finally. "Seems pretty obvious what happened. Koujaku was in love with Aoba, right? I mean, who can blame him. After that stuff happened, he probably just focused on that. But that's gone now, thanks to your shitty master--"

"Hey," Huracan says. "Aoba making his own choices is vital for his own development."

"--So he gave up," Beni continues, as if Huracan hadn't interjected, though he nods even as he speaks. "He gave up on that fantasy future, and instead all that's in front of him is living with that shit from his past. So of course he's looking for revenge! Who wouldn't!"

"Who wouldn't," Huracan agrees. Despite their almost inverse personalities, Mink and Koujaku have a lot of similarities. "It's a dangerous prospect."

"He might die."

"He might wish to," Huracan says. Again, he thinks too clearly of that day Mink almost died, despite both Aoba and Toue's injections into his mind. He thought of how Mink had finished his revenge and seen nothing in front of him but returning to his family, rather than returning 'home', had wanted to crawl into that grave and go silent. He reaches out a hand, takes Beni's with it without asking, winds their hands together. "I'm familiar with the idea."

"Are you, huh," Beni says. "...I want to argue he ain't like that."

"You can't."

"I can't," Beni says. He squeezes his hand tightly on Huracan's; again, it's that weird sensation of skin that doesn't exist on skin that doesn't exist, and Huracan's non-existent heart tightens a little. He wonders how a network like this could even come to exist, where Allmates could act like humans, where touch had meaning beyond pressure. 

But now isn't the time. "What shall we do?" Huracan asks again.

Beni swallows. "We have to talk to Aoba and Ren. I guess Mink too," he says. "...Koujaku ain't listening to me any more. But he may still listen to Aoba, right? And... look, you're fine. You're great, maybe. But I... I need Ren. I haven't been talking to Ren at all, you know? Because he gotta put Aoba first and I didn't wanna fuck that up for him when it was all this. So I've been puttin' him at wing's length and, well, I need a friend who isn't you."

It stings, but Huracan doesn't allow himself to let it show, doesn't let his hand twitch, doesn't draw a breath. "I imagine."

"Ren and I, we don't got these complicated fucked up feelings, I just need what he and I got right now. And -- even Scratch's bastard can help. Right? We aren't gonna be able to talk Koujaku outta this shit, I know him. And hell, he's got reason, right? Maybe that guy shouldn't be out there," Beni says, voice getting higher and shriller. "But he doesn't have to do it alone! Mink still has contacts with Scratch, right, he's got all kinds of criminal connections -- between him and Noiz maybe we can help Koujaku track that tattoo asshole down."

"All right," Huracan says. "As you wish."

***

Aoba and Mink were surprised when Beni joins them at their hotel window; Ren didn't seem to be, but perhaps that was expected, in a way, since he had known clearly of their affair. But all three of them are completely taken aback when Beni blurts out the situation as they understand it, hunched small, almost a spherical ball of feathers on the back of the chair he's perched on.

Aoba is the first to react, drawing a shuddering breath and curling his fingers into fists. Seated around the table like this, Huracan thinks, they almost seem like some sort of absurd war council. "...If it's like that," Aoba says, "then of course we have to help Koujaku. There's no way he's in this on his own."

Aoba agreeing means Mink's support is also behind it. He sighs -- unsurprisingly, really, since he had probably hoped they were well out of trouble and plots for the rest of his life. But he puts one of his broad hands next to Aoba's, and Aoba moves his own, gripping it tightly.

"Thanks, man," Beni says, actually trembling with relief. "I... I don't know what I'd do on my own."

Not that Beni had been on his own either, but Huracan doesn't say that. He had probably felt it regardless; they are just Allmates, and there isn't much either can do.

Aoba and Mink are discussing next steps quietly together; Mink's in favor of just taking action, but Aoba is arguing that just dealing with this guy isn't the important part -- Koujaku is, and letting Koujaku know he has support. And of course, Aoba is winning the discussion.

While they talk, though, Ren stands up and bumps Beni's chair. "Beni."

"Ah. Yeah, Ren?"

"I'm sorry. I had no idea you were dealing with something so serious."

Beni seems to topple, and Ren moves automatically -- so this is a common move between them, Huracan thinks, as Beni lands safely in Ren's fluff. "You didn't know because I didn't tell ya!" Beni chides. "You can't expect to know things that people hide from you!"

Huracan turns away; Aoba and Mink's conversation is more relevant right now anyway.

***

"Isn't this nice?" Koujaku says. "It's been a while since Aoba's cooked me dinner!" He's smiling broadly as Aoba puts the plates down; the three humans are there in Koujaku's apartment, their Allmates, understandably, present too.

"Um," Aoba says, and sits down, waits for Koujaku to dig in. "It's not actually all that nice."

"Hmm?"

Aoba is the one to explain what he's heard, how concerned he is. Huracan watches and sees the fury grow on Koujaku's face. It's not a totally unfamiliar expression -- he'd seen it a time or two when they had been all plotting to rescue Tae, after all -- but it's extreme for that, a bright flickering rage in his red eyes, his handsome face twisting and lips peeling back.

It's Beni who gets it, though, not Aoba, Koujaku grabbing him from his shoulder and slamming him onto the table. "Beni," he says, and there's a strange tone in his voice, nearly a growl. "You looked into my past? You went behind my back to dig up this dirt on me, you brought Aoba into this -- Aoba, on his vacation, who should be the hell out of this right now, you--"

"Hey," Aoba protests.

"Don't blame your bird," Mink says, casually. "You're the one who made him worried."

"I did the research," Huracan says. "I apologize--"

Koujaku's head jerks up, eyes flashing. "Nobody asked you," he snarls at Mink. "Why don't you mind your business?"

"Because you worried Beni that much!" Aoba almost yells. "Koujaku, get it together!"

Something more regretful flickers on Koujaku's face. "Aoba--"

"Beni has been quite a mess lately," Ren puts in. "I haven't understood why until now, not properly."

"I didn't want him to feel he had to betray you, but he couldn't leave you alone," Huracan says. "And you wouldn't share anything with him. I was the one who did the research myself, and only passed on what seemed vital, at Beni's desire. Of all people, he is the one who wished to keep your faith the most."

The rage fades from Koujaku's face almost completely, a visible sick guilt settling into its place. Koujaku swallows, loosening his grip, looking down at the bird he still has cupped in his hand. Huracan can't see Beni from where he is, can only see small bits of red through Koujaku's scarred fingers, but finds he doesn't need to. He can envision it regardless; Beni won't be looking at Koujaku after this, will have his gaze lowered, his eyes perhaps closed.

"Ah," Koujaku says, his voice soft again, sad. "I've worried you that much."

Beni makes a sound, small and brief, non-verbal.

"...I'm sorry. No, that's not enough to say," Koujaku says, and although he doesn't uncup his hand -- perhaps wanting to shield Beni's display of emotion, perhaps not wanting to let him go -- he curls his free hand against the table and bows his head until his face is almost in his cooling plate. "Beni, I apologize. You were looking out for me all this time, and you deserve better than this shitty master's shitty anger."

"H-hey," Beni says, voice crackling weirdly through his speaker, "don't insult my master, you jerk master--!"

"I made you cry," Koujaku says, pained and loving and sympathetic.

This time, Huracan can see a bit more of Beni as he fluffs up to what seems like nearly double his size. "I AIN'T CRYING!" he yells, clearly crying.

Koujaku spends a few long moments soothing him, petting him, ignoring the others until Beni seems to get himself back under control. Huracan notices the others; Ren's serious concern, Aoba taking Mink's hand as he watches it, and feels a little out of place. 

"I'm sorry," Koujaku says again, and uncurls his hand, letting Beni go where he wants; he flies back up to Koujaku's shoulder, and slams himself in there, pressing up against Koujaku's neck. "I made you show such an uncool face, Beni."

"Wh--whatever! My face is never uncool!"

"I'm sorry, all of you," Koujaku says, and picks up his chopsticks, looking down at his food. "I truly didn't want to get anyone involved. This is my business to deal with."

"Koujaku--" Aoba begins to protest, with a strained smile. "We--"

Koujaku shakes his head, cutting him off. "You're already involved," he says heavily. "I'm aware of that. My own rejection of Beni brought that on me. I still don't want to bring you into this. The situation is -- it's very personal."

"I understand," Aoba says. "I do, Koujaku."

"You don't," Koujaku says. "I --" He looks at Huracan. "Is it true you didn't share the details of what you learned about me?"

"I did not," Huracan says. "For the sake of Beni's pride. I am the only individual at this table who knows the full details."

"Mm," Koujaku says. He picks at his plate, then puts his chopsticks down. "All right," he says. "I understand the situation. It's shameful, but I don't want to force anyone to ignore me after you've come all this way. Beni wants that too, huh?"

Beni grooms Koujaku's ponytail, briefly. "They're your pals, man."

"Haaaa," Koujaku says, but doesn't reject it. "I guess. But you need to leave him to me. I don't want anyone here dealing with the man himself. He's dangerous. But put together, we have resources that might be able to help. So let's deal with this together."

"We've dealt with danger, Red," Mink says.

"Doesn't matter," Koujaku says. "Aoba, can we talk privately? I -- don't want you to get involved without knowing the details."

"Sure," Aoba says. He picks up his plate. "Your room?"

"Yeah," Koujaku says. He too rises.

Beni starts to flap off, but Koujaku shakes his head so quickly that he almost hits him with the ponytail. "You can come too, Beni. After doing so much for me, it's the least I can do." 

The sparrow seems almost to light up, eyes wide as he resettles. "I'm here for you 100%, man!" he says.

The three of them leave, and the kitchen is left silent. Huracan shifts uncomfortably, scuttling across Mink's shoulder.

"You're going pretty far for that bird," Mink says, after a moment. "Getting us into this."

Ren glances up, surprised. "...We would want to help Koujaku regardless."

"Mm. I'm talking about Huracan now, though, not that situation. He's not so altruistic."

"I'm not," Huracan agrees. "You're right."

"Regardless, he and Beni--"

"Ah," Mink says. That's the moment, Huracan supposes, where everything makes sense. But Mink doesn't say anything else, just raises a hand and starts stroking Huracan's feathers, a gentle comforting gesture. 

It's strange, how he feels he needs it. He wonders how Beni's reacting to the information he and Aoba are receiving, if things will change.

It's strange, too, to be offered this. He doesn't protest, closing his eyes and letting Mink show him understanding.


End file.
